This Week in Art 6.12-6.18: Matthew Ritchie Unveils “The Temptation of the Diagram”

Yesterday artist Matthew Ritchie unveiled a 27-foot-long work titled The Temptation of the Diagram, exploring the history of diagrams over the past 5,000 years. Part of the artist’s five year collaboration with the Getty Research Institute, the first complete presentation of the piece is included in a new exhibition at California’s El Segundo Museum of Art entitled Noema. Derived from a Greek word meaning “thought-object,” noemata have since been understood as diagrams, and the exhibition includes a 160-foot immersive version of Ritchie’s newly unveiled piece.

Events & exhibitions

New York City

Tomorrow Josiah McElheny’s outdoor public art project, Prismatic Park, is opening in Madison Square Park, where it will be on view till October 8. Comprised of large sculptures of painted wood and prismatic glass, the three forms will refract the surrounding natural light and serve as stages for upcoming music, dance, and poetry performances.

Hartford, CT

Mika Tajima recently opened a solo exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Entitled MATRIXX 177: After Life, the installation is an illuminated space that “responds to the sentiment of future human expressions modeled by computer algorithms.” On view through September 3. [Read a review in the Hartford Courant.]

Rockland, ME

An exhibition of work by William Wegman opened this weekend at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. Reel to Realfeatures the artist’s 1970s performance videos and drawings, and is on view through October 22.

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

This is the last week to see Catherine Opie’s 700 Nimes Road at NSU Art Museum. Comprised of two photo series documenting the California home of actress Elizabeth Taylor, the exhibition closes this Sunday, June 18.

Toledo, OH

Kara Walker’s 2005 print series Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) opens this Saturday, June 17 at the Toledo Museum of Art. On view through October 22, the exhibition is a celebration of the series’ recent acquisition by the museum, and features 15 of the artist’s silhouette figures layered over wood-engravings of Civil War scenes from Harper’s Pictorial History, first published in 1866.

San Francisco

This Friday, June 16, Tania Bruguera is opening a temporary iteration of her Escuela de Arte Útil (School of Useful Art) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Part of the survey exhibition Talking to Power / Hablándole al Poder, the show will present all of the artist’s long-term, socially engaged art projects to date, and includes weekly public classes led by Bruguera and fellow artist-educators. On view through October 19, with Escuela de Arte Útil classes held 4-8pm Tuesdays-Thursdays, June 20-August 10.

Bruton, UK

An exhibition of new and recent work by Rashid Johnson entitled Strangeris on view at Hauser & Wirth Somerset through September 10. [Read a review in Crave.]

Zurich

An exhibition of new work by Jenny Holzer, including a new group of Redaction paintings and a new series of watercolor and graphite drawings, opens today at Hauser & Wirth Zürich, where it will be on view through July 29.